NFDI4Ing Community Survey: Results & call to participate!

How do researchers perceive and experience research data management (RDM) in engineering sciences? To find out, NFDI4Ing regularly surveys researchers from all engineering disciplines. The 4th survey is currently running. NFDI4ING is once again looking for engineers to share their experiences and needs in dealing with research data. Of course, participation is anonymous. More than 1500 participants have already taken part in the first three surveys between 2019 and 2023, and almost 1000 completed questionnaires are available for analysis.

What we know so far

The first survey in 2019 served to determine the basic needs and requirements for handling research data in engineering research practice: What kind of research data, to what amount, and in which research scenarios (user stories) do engineering scientists have to deal with in their research? The respondents (n=618) reported that they mainly generate research data in the form of texts (86%), tables (76%), models (69%) and source code (64%) (cf. Jagusch & Preuß 2019). In most cases, a low to medium amount of data per year and employee can be expected. Finally, this first survey was also a validation of the NFDI4Ing archetypes concept. 95% of the 618 respondents could identify with one to three of the seven archetypes (cf. Bronger et al. 2021: 114).

The surveys for the years 2022 to 2024 each started at the annual NFDI4ING conference and had a different thematic focus (cf. Hensel/Linxweiler 2024 & Linxweiler/Hensel/Wermbter 2024). These surveys focused on the researchers’ self-assessment of their data competence, their knowledge of local RDM consulting and service offerings and, finally, their perception of the NFDI4ING and the consortium’s tools and services.

The participants were first of all confronted with a series of RDM topics and were asked which of the topics they were familiar with. The results from 2022 and 2023 show that all of the RDM areas mentioned are widely known and, for the most part, used sporadically or systematically. But there is still a lot to do: The 2023 survey showed that metadata standards (33%) and data management plans (22%) were the areas least familiar to respondents, along with the FAIR principles (23%), which almost two-thirds (32%) of respondents in 2022 said they did not know (‘never heard of’) (multiple choice possible; 2022 n=386, 2023 n=278).

Awareness of NFDI4Ing and what the consortium can do to help researchers

In response to the question “Do you know NFDI4Ing?”, 59% of respondents answered ‘yes’ in 2022 and 66% in 2023. However, it should be noted that the 2023 survey was not a repeat (panel) survey of the same sample from 2022. In addition, the number of people surveyed was different (2022: n = 246; 2023: n = 214). However, the trend data show that a good 60% of each sample was aware of the NFDI4Ing.

In the year following the 2022 survey, several NFDI4Ing tools and services have been launched that can provide researchers with subject-specific support for their RDM. It is interesting to see which specific NFDI4Ing tools are used by those who report that they know about the consortium and actively use what it offers. Although the sub-sample of 2023 respondents who answered the question about tools used is relatively small (n=45), it is noteworthy that interactive services are particularly valued: NFDI4Ing Community Meetings (top 1 response), NFDI4Ing Special Interest Groups (top 2 response) as well as services for publishing research results and subject-specific customisations of the research data management tool RDMO (Top 3 response: journal „ing.grid“ and „RDMO NFDI4Ing“).

What support do engineering researchers need?

Finally, the surveys identified the needs and requirements of engineers regarding research data management. In general, respondents in 2022 and 2023 would primarily like to receive support with the general process and planning of RDM, as well as with the preparation of research data (metadata collection, metadata standards). When asked about local support, training programmes were found to be most in demand in 2022 and 2023 (64% and 52% respectively). When asked specifically about potential support from NFDI4Ing, respondents would like to see advisory services in particular: generally on how to handle research data, and specifically on technical and legal issues (the top 3 responses in both 2022 and 2023). NFDI4Ing is already aligning its services to these needs and will further enhance its expertise thanks to the valuable feedback from the community.

Further results

The anonymised data from the surveys have already been published and a comparative analysis of the survey data will be published next year. If you have any questions about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We invite you to support us!

At this year’s NFDI4Ing conference, the 4th round of the Community Survey was launched. The current survey runs until 31 December and it takes only 10 minutes to complete.

Just visit: https://nfdi4ing.de/survey_2024/ (German and English version available)

Are you an engineer? Just take part and please share the survey call with your networks and communities. Maybe we can even beat last year’s turnout! Every response helps us to better understand the needs and requirements of researchers in managing research data and to further improve the NFDI4Ing RDM tools and services.